Fraudulent Seller
I've purchased 9 handmade items and they are currently in transit. Before purchasing I went to the trouble of asking the seller if the items were identical to their pictures and was assured that they would be.
Last night I went onto a social media platform to look for other offerings from the artist and discovered a whole page devoted to how her pictures have been stolen and are being used on various platforms to sell sub-standard copies of her work.
The seller I have purchased from is using her stolen pictures.
What on earth do I do now?
Amy.
10 comments
anything_my_child
OP3 years agoanything_my_child
OP3 years agoUPDATE: i ended up leaving Neutral feedback. I added reasons why in the feedback. In the end I thought I was being fair. The dolls I received WERE soft bodied and DID have almost identical clothing BUT were just a smaller and inferior copy of the listing pics. Not the worst but still disappointing. Thank you so much for your help .
springyzone
·3 years agoI guess you are kinder than I would be.
To me, copying photos from the original designer to sell your own copies is a serious cheat.
I would be okay with a seller if they were using their own photos of their product, at least you would see what you were really getting.
Good luck with future purchases, I hope you pick up some amazing dolls next time and are not left feeling a bit disappointed.😀
springyzone
·3 years agoI can't see what you bought in your feedback history but I can see 9 purchases from one seller, so I am assuming that is the one. As gutterpunkz said, that seller is in China.
If that is the one, then I am not shocked that the seller has used photos from a genuine website.
That isn't all that uncommonwith some Chinese sellers. I know I have seen photos of wedding dresses that have been lifted off designer websites here and then used in ads by Chinese sellers, where the price is about $130 compared to the $2,500 of the genuine article. Naturally, the product you'd get if you bought it wouldn't be a patch on the original, you can pretty much guarantee that.
The trouble is, it doesn't seem to be illegal in China to do that. And sellers from China don't seem to face any consequences with ebay.
Your best bet is to go the route of not as described, or whatever the wording is of the choices you have.
Make a claim on ebay for a refund on the basis that the item you received does not match the description or photo that was in the ad. If you have photographic evidence, all the better.
Hopefully you will get a refund. Don't pay for return postage either. Seller will need to supply funds for that.
anything_my_child
OP3 years agoThank you for your reply. I will have to do that. I did all I could to ensure I wasn't going to end up in this situation by asking the seller directly and even asking if they would take a picture of one with their own camera..but they said they were using their supplier's photos. I also looked at all the listings for these dolls but as yet I don't think any buyers have received them as there is no feedback (slow boat from China). I discovered that the real dolls in the pictures sell for nearly $500 each (handmade by the artist). I got on to Amazon and let them know about this scam but, like Ebay, I don't think they are really interested to know.
gutterpunkz05
·3 years agoSo it looks like the seller might be in China with over a million sales, have I got the right one?
Are the items listed as unbranded, or are they attributed in the listing, to any particular maker.
The use of another persons photos, is quite common, and often a person who claims ownership of any particular photo, is unaware that they have made such photos available for use by the general public, via catalogues etc.
anything_my_child
OP3 years agohttps://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02ec8u4eoihbStiHKg5N5LLJRsYw4ag9xWyRs8TexkaEUdVkHT59UJXixNtrgBL5Zil&id=100031786496514&comment_id=1857142057975911¬if_id=1676466218311595¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif
This is the article I came across the other night.
anything_my_child
OP3 years agoGood point about how it was listed. The listing is not titled as an original Waldorf or Steiner doll..they have used words like cartoon and rag doll. I assumed this to be due to the listing being written by someone for whom English is not their primary language. If you read the Item Description it becomes obvious that it is not their primary language.
Where they have been blatantly fraudulent is in using stolen pictures that clearly show the branding of Taisiya Stepina and Evgeniya Elizarova (the artists of these dolls) on the box lids to the left of the dolls in the boxes. That would be like me homemaking a hamburger and selling it using a picture taken from a McDonald's advertisement. The seller also advertised that the "lifelike cheeks are painted with Waldorf's ecological beeswax.". .so they worked the Waldorf name in there...and two more of the points are the Steiner ethos for the Waldorf dolls.
I honestly don't believe the seller understands that they are selling a scam. I don't even think they have the stock on hand.
It will be interesting to see what I receive as that has varied widely for other people caught in this scam.
springyzone
·3 years agoI think, as countess says, you're going to have to be very careful how you word your claim with ebay.
Wording will be everything.
With hindsight, I think you now realise that had it been a genuine item, the brand would have been used in the title.
To me, lifting photos from a genuine website and using wording in the ad that implies it is a Waldorf product is totally misleading, but they may have covered themselves by listing it as unbranded.
I think countess is right in that it may be easier to go down the route of not as described, rather than claiming it is a fake, because you'd have to provide evidence it is a fake and more to the point, if they listed it as unbranded, then they may just reply they never claimed it was a waldorf. The fact they used the actual name Waldorf somewhere in the ad may be enough to support your claim that they were advertising it as a waldorf, but I am not certain. The onus would be on you though to prove they were not genuine.
But it is likely that the dolls you receive won't be up to the standard of the doll in the photo, so you need to pick up the differences so you can claim the doll in the photo is definitely not the one you received. Take some close up photos if possible, of your doll and where the ad photos differ. Please let us know how you go.
countessalmirena
·3 years agoOnce the items have arrived, presumably you will be able to see that they are not as pictured. At that time, open a refund request to send back the items that are SNAD (significantly not as described).
If at that time you're also feeling quite outraged at the use made of the artist's photos to sell fakes/inferior copies of her work, you may want to report the items as fraudulent. In that case you will need evidence to support the claim; the artist's statement on letterhead or in a format that recognises her officially would be of use. Overall, though, it's more work to go down the "fake" route than the "not as described" route.